Mar 21, 2025 09:38 PM IST
Tulsi Gabbard travelled to India earlier this week to participate in a security conclave convened by NSA Ajit Doval and to speak at the Raisina Dialogue
NEW DELHI: India on Friday said the country’s top leadership had urged US Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard to act against “secessionist elements” carrying out anti-India activities from American soil.
Gabbard travelled to India earlier this week to participate in a security conclave convened by National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and to speak at the Raisina Dialogue, the country’s flagship conference on geopolitics. She was the first senior Trump administration official to visit India.
Gabbard held separate meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, defence minister Rajnath Singh, external affairs minister S Jaishankar and Doval.
“During her meetings with her interlocutors in India, on our side, we conveyed our concerns regarding anti-India elements, anti-India activities of secessionist elements. It is our expectation that the US side will take appropriate action in this regard,” external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal told a regular media briefing.
He was responding to a question on reports that Singh had raised with Gabbard India’s concerns at the activities of Khalistani separatist groups such as Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) on American soil, and urged her to declare it as a designated terrorist entity.
Singh also informed Gabbard about SFJ’s alleged links with Pakistani spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and its collaboration with Babbar Khalsa, a militant group, people familiar with the matter said.
A spokesperson from the office of the DNI said on Thursday that Gabbard’s meetings in India focused on cooperation in intelligence-sharing, defence, counter-terrorism and trans-national threats.
Her visit to India highlighted the strong US-India relationship bolstered by the leadership of Modi and President Donald Trump, the DNI spokesperson said.